A/N: Something I (embarrassingly) forgot to mention last chapter is that, of course, I own neither Firefly nor Serenity, and even my own original places and characters aren't truly my own because they inhabit the same wonderful universe that Joss Whedon span from his wild imagination. However, you guys can keep your paws off them – they are still technically mine :)
The cargo ramp of the Serenity whirred down and revealed the rolling green pastures of the heavily agricultural planet of Taurus. Perhaps predictably, Kaylee was first among the crowd of the crew, inhaling the air of the planet eagerly as it rushed into the interior of the ship.
"Ahh!" she exclaimed, releasing her first breath of fresh air in what felt like eternity. Behind her, several of her companions made similar, though much more understated, expressions of satisfaction.
As the engineer bounded down the ramp, Mal was muttering something to Zoe, probably a mild continuation of the conversation they had had in her quarters. Whatever Mal had said to her had worked, as she now seemed quite tranquil, but she looked anything but happy – and an unhappy Zoe has on several occasions meant a violent Zoe.
A small dirt path led from the spaceport down into the city proper; although it couldn't be realistically called a city. It was awarded the title because it was the settlement with the highest population on the planet. Quaint cottages lined the cobble stoned streets, and people here evidently still rode bicycles, because there were several of the contraptions wobbling along the unsteady surface of the road.
The first of their needs fulfilled – the spaceport – they sought out their second; namely, a bar. They found one close to their landing spot, presumably based so it attracted maximum patronage from the spacers that frequented the planet.
Inside, it was as you'd typically expect of a spacer bar.
The booze was cheap and nasty, and so were the girls. A couple of dozen burly men sat around at rickety tables eying each other warily, and not for the first time Mal seriously considered that he must be the best looking spacer out there. At least, based upon the occupants of the room. Except for the guy sitting at the table in the corner. The guy looking at him and smiling…
Delayed recollection allowed the man to approach Mal and extend his hand, and as he grasped and shook it, the memory came flooding back to him.
"Well I'll be…" said Mal, grinning. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say not the same reason you're here," was the reply. The man nodded at Zoe, who grumpily returned the motion.
"Crew," said Mal, turning to face those who didn't know the newcomer. "This is Harvey, we fought together in the war. Harvey, this is my crew."
"Well, well," said Harvey, taking Inara by the hand and kissing the back of it, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"And I yours," said Inara graciously, curtseying slightly. Mal rolled his eyes.
"Do you ever change?"
"Yes. Just…some parts of me don't."
"I think I know which part," commented Inara dryly, and Harvey waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Come on, let me buy you all a drink."
Mal pretended to stagger back slightly, clutching his chest slightly in shock. "I take it back – you have changed."
He led them to his table in the corner, and Mal got another look around the bar – as always, on the lookout for trouble.
The holo-monitor mounted behind the bar was just finishing an infomercial, completing a no doubt riveting explanation to the bored patrons of the bar; "WHY WY?" It flashed to a news report that told of the Alliance's progress in hunting down the remainder of the Reaver fleet. They had naturally spun the PR nightmare into a semi-plausible explanation about drawing the threat to society on the outskirts of the core systems into a confrontation that would soundly eliminate them. They smeared mud on the reputation of their scientist Mal and the others had found the testimonial of on Miranda – right before she was…well, murdered seemed like too light a term to describe what the Reavers had done to her. No-one believed them – the majority anyway – but what was anyone going to do about it? It was just a step – a necessary, significant step, but just a step nonetheless – in the process of removing the Alliance from power.
That is, if you had such inclinations. Mal didn't really care one way or the other. He had already done his part, fighting for the Independents, and then again by exposing the truth about the origins of the Reavers. The second one he hadn't even done on purpose, it just kind of happened. Malcolm Reynolds was no man's puppet. When the Alliance tried to force his hand like they did when they dispatched their Operative to retrieve River from his custody, then in Mal's humble opinion, they deserved the consequences.
"Crazy, huh?" said Harvey beside him, his hand clapping on Mal's shoulder, snapping him out of his reverie. "The Reavers might be finished before long! I hear they're on the run – there are too many of them to openly engage, but the Alliance is herding them around, pickin' a few off at a time, pushin' 'em towards a system where their forces are gathering."
"And where'd you hear something like that?" asked Mal, and Harvey just tapped his nose.
"If I told ya, I'd have to kill ya."
"If you told me, you could try," returned Mal, taking a swig of the beer Harvey had just ordered for him. Harvey just chuckled to himself.
"So…how've you been?" said Mal's old war buddy after a few moments.
"Better," said Mal, truthfully. "Our last stunt cost me my pilot and everyone who'd do business with us. Including a very good friend of mine."
"Yeah, I heard about that, too."
"What else you heard?"
"I hear the support for the Alliance is crumbling left right and centre."
"What's new?"
"You're new," said Harvey, discarding his drink and turning to stare at Mal intently. "Your little PR event has shook up the Alliance at every level. Bureaucrats who have been loyal for decades are starting to question their loyalty. Soldiers who'd have fired at women and children without a moment's hesitation are starting to worry about every order they receive. And most importantly…the people are starting to question whether or not they really like living under Alliance rule."
Mal smirked cynically. "Maybe if we lived in a perfect 'verse…"
"I don't know where you've been holed up the last few weeks, Mal, but since your broadcast…well, from here on in you can expect anti-Alliance sentiment to be growing. Even the Core Worlds are starting to grumble."
"Is there a point to any of this?" asked Mal, starting to grow weary of the conversation.
"Yeah. Big things are coming, Mal. The Independents are back."
Mal stared stonily at Harvey, and then pushed his cup away on the bar. "I think I've heard 'bout enough of this as I care to hear."
As he went to turn away, Harvey grabbed his shoulder. "Mal…wait just a second."
"Trouble, sir?" Zoe had almost instantly materialised behind Harvey.
Mal eyed Harvey and then returned Zoe's gaze. "Nothing I can't handle."
She nodded and went to return to the table, but – in a very, very bad move – one of the spacers sitting at the table she walked past slapped her behind, laughing raucously with his friends.
Things degenerated quite predictably after that.
Zoe grabbed the nearest bottle – from the hand of another big man sitting at the opposite table, and smashed it over the original offender's head.
"Not again," muttered Inara, and the crew of the Serenity scrambled to assist Zoe.
The man whose beer she had stolen was instantly up, indignantly howling and went to attack Zoe, but Mal punched him across the face. The spacer went down, and all of his friends stood up.
The barman crouched behind the bar, anticipating – quite rightly – what would happen next.
The entire bar erupted in violence as the minimum-intelligence men and women saw some slight against their person someone else had perpetrated. Tables were thrown over, bottles thrown, chairs upended and pretty soon the modest drinking establishment would be better advertised as a free for all.
Mal intercepted a thrown fist only to receive another to the jaw. Harvey all but bulldozed into the fray, grappling two thugs to the ground. Zoe was beating on the guy who had committed the crime of pissing her off.
Mal staggered to his feet, motioning vaguely with one hand behind him and wiping his nose with the other. "Zoe…?" When she paid no attention whatsoever to him, he shrugged and tackled another participant of the brawl.
Back at the table, Inara was confronted by a tank of a man, squeaked in alarm and cowered before his rush. He faltered when confronted by this beautiful woman, and for a fatal moment let his guard down. Her opportunity ready to be taken, Inara brought her foot straight up between his legs. The spacer moaned once and then collapsed, managing to break a chair on his way down. The Companion grabbed Kaylee's wrist and together they picked their way across the bar to the exit.
"No, wait!" cried Kaylee. "What about Simon?"
"Who's Simon with, Kaylee?" was the measured response.
"Riv…oh right. Yeah. I guess we'll see them outside."
Across the way, Jayne roared and picked a brawler up by the back of his shirt and the seat of his pants, and hauled him over the bar into the assorted stacked bottles behind.
"Your man's quite excitable," commented Harvey, and Mal just grunted.
"He just likes to make loud, smashy noises. And he isn't my man," he added indignantly.
Jayne leapt onto the bar and heaved a chair across the room, hitting someone square in the face. He laughed with childlike pleasure and, kicking someone else on his way down, jumped back into the fray.
River sat calmly as the table she sat in front of was wrenched from in front of her and slammed into a gang of four traders, but as a spacer ran towards Simon, she was up in a flash, grabbing the man by the fist and containing his motion so he was suddenly still.
"Not that one," she said. "He has neither the time nor the disposition."
The man laughed noisily and tried to shove River out of the way, but she turned him around, forced him to his knees and neatly broke his arm. The spacer – who was easily twice her size – screamed in pain, and a quick jab to the temple ensured he was out for the count.
Simon muttered his thanks, but River just returned to her seat. A bottle narrowly missed hitting her in the face, but she just giggled. Simon edged a little closer to his sister.
Mal decided that they'd had about as much fun as they were going to have, and called out to Zoe. She responded to him this time, abandoning beating on the very original offender and his friends, and worked her way towards her captain.
"Sir!" she called.
"I think it's about time we left this fine establishment," commented Mal, dodging a flying bottle.
"Agreed."
"Well, we've had a swell time, we're glad for y'all hospitality – hey, woah!" cried Mal as two spacers grabbed him roughly from behind, lifted him into the air and threw him through the window.
The ionised fragments of the window flickered and died around him as he sat, bemused on the road outside. As the window reformed behind him, Zoe and Harvey exited the bar more conventionally.
"…But we've got a prior engagement," finished Mal. Inara and Kaylee were watching the proceedings with no small amount of amusement from the side of the road. As Zoe and Harvey helped Mal to his feet, River and Simon slipped outside and joined their little menagerie.
As they started to walk down the street, Simon stopped. "Oh! Wait, what about Jayne?"
"He'll be fine," said Kaylee, catching him around the waist and worming her way under his arm. "He's having fun."
"Oh…yes, I forgot Jayne is quite different to everyone else sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
They started to walk again, trailing behind the others, and the others discretely allowing them some private time.
"I thought that was real sweet, the way you took care of River back there," said Kaylee.
Simon thought quick. "The way I…? Oh yes. Well, I am her brother. It's just me and her against it all out here."
Kaylee snorted. "You're not a very good liar, Simon. I saw the way River took care of that guy…from outside, through the window."
"I can't help it if I have a super-sister," commented Simon, going on the defensive slightly. "I'm not a fighter…I heal people."
"I know! And you're a great doctor. I think it's cute the way River looks after you in places like that. It kinda makes up for the way you looked after her all this time on your own. She's getting better now that…well, now that certain things that were bothering her have been fixed."
"Since Miranda, you mean. Yes, she's a lot calmer, and seems more in control of herself. No violent outbursts since, anyway."
A playful smile worked at Kaylee's lips. "And while River takes care of guys who try and break your face, I get to take care of…other parts…" Her hand led seductively down his chest, and a loud cough made Simon squirm with embarrassment and Kaylee's smirk even wider.
Mal's eyebrow was arched in wry amusement. "Can I interest either of you in a room?"
"Yeah, I'm very interested," said Kaylee, and Simon just flushed.
Harvey glanced over at Zoe. "That guy in the bar got a beating for less than that."
"And now she feels much better," said Mal. "Right Zoe?"
"Right you are, sir."
"Shall we loiter here for our hired muscle to catch up?" suggested Inara, and Mal nodded.
"Seems like as good a place as any." He turned to Harvey. "Now, what were you saying?"
Harvey eyed everyone around him uneasily. "Uh, well, what I have to say is…"
"Just out with it. They'll find out eventually. Serenity is a very small ship."
"Well…like I said, the Independents have reformed. They're ready to take the fight to the Alliance and make things right again. The way we fought for it to be, Mal, Zoe."
"We lost, Harvey," said Mal, and Zoe nodded behind him. "Move on."
"But don't you see, Mal? Maybe we didn't lose. Maybe…maybe we've just been waiting for the time to come back."
"No, Harvey, I'm pretty sure we lost. Zoe?"
"Yeah…I seem to remember losing."
"And we can't both be wrong," said Mal. "So why don't you stop tainting the name of what we stood up for and leave those things that live in the past right where they are."
"You're wrong, Mal. We can do this."
"No, you're wrong," said Mal, his voice taking an edge. The crew shuffled uncomfortably as they did whenever the war was mentioned in front of Mal, and Harvey sensed the change in them. "You call yourself the Independents, but all you really are is a group of people either too hung up on the past to let go or an opportunist looking to take advantage of people like you. Don't pretend what you're doing is anything but what it is. And I won't have any part of it. Just…just let the past stay buried."
Harvey's lip pursed, and he shook his head, and the two men obviously had nothing more to say to each other. "Well, if you change your mind –"
"I won't."
"– I'm sure you'll be able to find me. What's about to go down is big enough for anyone to find us." With that he wandered off down the street.
There was an awkward silence as Mal and Zoe exchanged significant glances, but Jayne provided a useful social diversion when he trotted up to them wielding severed chair legs in both hands.
"You guys missed a hell of a fight!" he exclaimed, and everything was back to normal again.
"So what now, sir?" asked Zoe, who had obviously relieved a lot of pressure back in the bar, and so seemed a little more like her old self.
Mal stretched and dusted off his jacket as he spoke. "I know someone here who might be able to hook us up with some work."
"A friend?"
"More of a friend of a friend of a colleague of…some guy I beat up once in a bar."
"That's a pretty vague way to do business, Mal," commented Inara, and she received his level gaze.
"That's all we have right now," he said evenly, and she knew when to back down.
"Well then cap'n," said Kaylee, hanging off Simon's arm, "Lead the way!"
Mal turned and led the small crowd of oddballs along the cobblestone path, the afternoon daylight dancing across them.
Next on Void
"The job is, we gotta take these crates," Mal slapped one for emphasis, "On that fine piece of hardware…" Naturally, he pointed at Serenity. "…Across to the next planet over, in less than a day. Questions?"
A/N: Stealing from a page in Tyramir's book, thanks to the man himself and also BlueEyedBrigadier for your reviews and feedback – much appreciated, guys.